SpaceX

The Starship upper stage suffered multiple premature engine shutdowns, as indicated in telemetry shown at bottom right. Flight control was lost and the spacecraft broke apart in a spectacular shower of debris. It was the Starship program’s second upper stage failure in a row. Image: SpaceX SpaceX launched its huge Starship rocket on the program’s eighth test flight Thursday, but a malfunction of some sort triggered multiple upper stage engine shutdowns and for the second flight in a row, the vehicle failed to reach its planned sub-orbital altitude and broke apart in a shower of debris. “Obviously, a lot to go through, a lot to dig through. We’re going to go right at it,” said SpaceX launch commentator Dan Huot. “The primary reason we do these flight tests is to learn. We have some more to ...

Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, named Athena, is pictured on its side, lying on the Moon’s surface following touchdown on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Image: Intuitive Machines A day after its Nova-C class robotic lander touched down on the surface of the Moon, Intuitive Machines confirmed that its mission is now over. In a statement posted to its website, the company based in Houston, Texas, said that its lander, named Athena, touched down about 250 m (820 ft) away from its intended landing site, on its side and inside of a crater at Mons Mouton, near the lunar South Pole. “With the direction of the Sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and extreme cold temperatures in the crater, Intuitive Machines does not expect Athena to recharge,” the company wrote on Friday. “The mission has conc...

Intuitive Machines Athena lander pictured in low lunar orbit prior to its final descent to the surface. Image: Intuitive Machines. A commercially built moon lander built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines landed near the moon’s south pole Thursday, but telemetry indicated it ended up on its side. The lander is “alive,” officials said, but it’s not yet known what mission objectives might still be met. Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said “we don’t believe we’re in the correct attitude (orientation) on the surface of the moon yet again. I don’t have all the data yet to say exactly what the attitude of the vehicle is. “We’re collecting photos now and downlinking those, and we’re going to get a picture from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera from above, from orbit, and we’ll confirm...

A SpaceX rocket ascends from Space Launch Complex 40 on the Starlink 12-20 mission on Sunday, March 2, 2025. Image: Spaceflight Now SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 rocket of the month and its first Starlink flight since reportedly reaching 5 million subscribers for the satellite internet service on Sunday night. Liftoff of the Starlink 12-20 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 9:24 p.m. EST (0224 UTC on March 3). This was SpaceX’s 26th Falcon 9 rocket launch of the year.  SpaceX used the Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1086, to launch the mission. It flew for a fifth time after launching as a side booster on the Falcon Heavy GOES-U mission and then as a Falcon 9 booster for the third pair of Maxar’s WorldView Legion satellites and two Starli...

Firefly Aerospace’s team in its mission operations center celebrates the successful touchdown of its first Blue Ghost lunar lander on the Moon on Sunday, March 2, 2025. Image: Firefly Aerospace via livestream Hugs, high-fives and cheers were shared in Firefly Aerospace’s mission control room in the predawn hours on Sunday. Down the road, dozens more engineers alongside their family and friends did likewise at a watch party. For the second time since the end of the Apollo era, an American-built lander had a soft touchdown on the Moon’s surface. The spacecraft, dubbed Blue Ghost, set down on the surface of a region called Mare Crisium, located on the northeastern part of the Earth-facing side of the Moon. The final landing sequence took a little more than hour to complete with no overt anoma...